-Caveat Lector- <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27404-2001Feb19.html> The Scent Of Money By Richard Cohen Tuesday, February 20, 2001; Page A23 PHOENIX -- Several days ago, I looked through the file of letters written to Bill Clinton on behalf of Marc Rich. I read them one by one, sometimes noting the careful wording -- nothing about his alleged crime, everything about his philanthropic activities -- and had to stop myself from pressing the file to my face and just sniffing it. I was sure I'd get the smell of money. Letter after letter all but said the writer was fulfilling an obligation. Many of the letters were from Israel, where Rich had concentrated many of his philanthropic activities. College presidents wrote. Rabbis wrote. The heads of hospitals wrote. The prime minister, Ehud Barak, even picked up the phone and called Clinton. Rich had spread around a considerable amount of money. I do not disparage Rich's philanthropy. For all I know, it was genuine -- money given with nothing expected in return. But it was money that generated most of those letters, just as it was his ex-wife's money that got Denise Rich into Clinton's inner circle. In that way, she was able not only to write the president on her ex-husband's behalf but also to literally whisper in Clinton's ear: Marc deserves a pardon. It was money, too, that enlisted Jack Quinn. For a reported $300,000 the former White House counsel represented Rich in his quest for a pardon. He did what a lawyer is supposed to do, but as his fee will attest, he was not any lawyer, he was the one with the president's ear. Clinton trusted him. The two, after all, had worked together. The words "sorry," "wrong" or "apologize" do not come easily to Bill Clinton. He had a hard time uttering them even after he conceded he had lied about Monica Lewinsky. They had to be dragged out of him, and, when at last he hung his head and said "sorry," he did so in a grudging way that suggested he really wasn't -- that if anyone should be sorry it was his enemies. They were the skunks at Bill's picnic. Now, Clinton has done something similar. His explanation of why he pardoned Rich -- offered as a 1,700-word op-ed piece in the New York Times -- lacks a true understanding of how and why he went wrong. His only mention of money is to reject the notion that it played any role at all -- no quid pro quo, said the former president. I believe that. Never did I think Clinton took a bribe. That is not who he is -- not now, not ever. But it was money that bought access to him. It was Denise Rich and her contribution to his presidential library and Beth Dozoretz and her fundraising activities and all those letters from all those Israelis -- some of them, I'm sure, sincere. Clinton did not ask himself what would have happened if Rich had no money -- no connections, no friends who had, in effect, bought their way into the White House. Under those circumstances, would he have pardoned a fugitive -- someone who had fled the country to avoid trial? Clinton probably would not even have heard the guy's name. I am in this city because I participated in a seminar at Arizona State University. Naturally, I was asked about the pardon -- sometimes as if it was bought outright. No, I explained, this is not how things work in Washington -- or, for that matter, in any state capital. Bribes are sometimes offered and accepted, of course, but mostly money buys access. The rich make political contributions or offer their houses for vacations. There is quid but almost never a quo. Still, things happen. If Bill Clinton were writing about someone other than himself, he would have noticed a pattern. There they were again -- the people with the bucks, the ones who could help him, the latter-day McDougals. If Clinton were writing about someone other than himself, he would have said something about how the need for money -- for the campaign, for the party, for the legal defense fund, for the presidential library -- corrupted the pardon process. It made it so hard to say no. If Clinton were not so reluctant to admit a mistake, a lapse in judgment, he could see that Marc Rich bought entree into the White House and, in that way, the pardon itself. He would have asked himself what went wrong and, if he did, he would have concluded that, of all things, his nose failed him. He had become so corrupted by an incessant need to raise funds, that he could no longer smell the money. ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: *Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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